Too Much Sitting and Cardio-Metabolic Risk: An Update of Epidemiological Evidence

Abstract

Sedentary behavior, as distinct from a lack of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, is an emerging health risk behavior for the development of chronic diseases. Examples of sedentary behavior include sitting, watching television, using a computer, and driving a car. In this article, we define sedentary behavior; outline key concepts related to the physiology of sedentary behavior, review the recent evidence on the effects of prolonged sedentary behavior (or sitting) on the risk of cardio-metabolic disease and all cause mortality, and discuss the implications for current clinical practice. We found that most large scale studies on sedentary behavior were published in the last 5 years. There is moderately consistent evidence for an association between total sitting time and all-cause mortality, even when adjusted for or stratified by leisure time physical activity. Overall, we identified a compelling case for sitting reduction to be included in clinical preventive advice as a key component of ‘active living,’ where adults and children are encouraged to ‘move more and sit less’ across different settings and locations throughout the day.

Keywords

Sedentary behavior Cardiovascular disease Diabetes Epidemiology

Notes

Compliance with Ethics Guidelines

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Conflict of Interest

Adrian E Bauman declares that she has no conflict of interest. Josephine Y Chau declares that she has no conflict of interest. Ding Ding declares that he has no conflict of interest. Jason Bennie declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance

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